Game Thoughts Packers/Steelers

Unreal! Best football team in the world. Hard to believe, but not really.

Rodgers was pretty solid. As usual, he was better in the first half. But his drive at the end there was pretty good. Pretty damn good.

James Harrison and Troy Polamalu were unbelievably non-existent. Troy Polamalu had 3 tackles and absolutely nothing else. In fact, he really blew an his assignment on Jennings for that TD. James Harrison had 1 sack – and that’s it. Absolutely nothing else. The credit for this goes to Mike McCarthy. Setting up a game plan to steer clear of a defense’s 2 best players like McCarthy did tonight is really amazing. That’s a good reason why our offense put up 24 points.

I thought Jordy Nelson would have a big game. Interestingly, both Brother Steve and I figured Nelson would be the dude tonight. Steve called it on the Dennis Miller show and I called it here – both independently because neither of us pay any attention to what the other is doing/saying. Nice.

Anyone else shocked that Mike Wallace went for 9 catches and 89 yards, 1 TD? He really had a nice game in the end – making several nice catches against Tramon.

Matthews had a few big plays. The blocked pass and the forced fumble were huge. In fact, it is just plain rare to see a RB making his first move only to fumble. That was a huge hit by Matthews and just a great play.

I was wrong about Desmond Bishop being the MVP. But he was good tonight. He had a few monster hits and some nice tackles.

James Starks was really good actually despite the limited action. I was going nuts in the second half wanting more run plays because Pitt just plain stopped playing the run. They rushed 4-5 guys every play and dropped everyone else into the passing lanes. Defense became so easy for Pitt during the 3rd quarter. But just at the right time, McCarthy called a couple run plays and Starks had a huge run on one of them.

Pleased with McCarthy’s play-calling tonight.

Pleased with McCarthy over all. He caught a lot of crap from lots of fans and others over this year. He has more than answered the call – he has been a different coach since the Detroit loss. He led this team forcefully through the end of this season. He was absolutely fantastic down the stretch.

Pleased with Ted Thompson. Yes, I was one of the people saying he wasn’t doing enough. And amazingly, I still think there were a couple of moves that might have helped. But after winning the Super Bowl, it’s awfully difficult to argue with his management of this team. His pick-up of Howard Green goes down as, I don’t know, ridiculous. It made a huge difference in the way our defense finished this season. Not only did Green add depth, but he also added a dimension to our defense that wasn’t there before. He was good tonight too – he caused the first Big Ben pick pretty much by himself.

Jarrett Bush was very good tonight. He put pressure on Roeth several times but his pick was really, really good. He pushed his way right into the passing lane on that pass, when Shields already had tight coverage and he just ripped the ball away. That was a key moment.

I’m glad Pitt decided to shy away from the run when down later in the second half. They were starting to run at will (in part because we insisted on doing the 5 DB thing) but then they got behind and started throwing. They had some success throwing too, but I think the loss of Emmanuel Sanders may have quietly limited their game plan.

Atari Bigby being interviewed right now by Dan Needles. He has huge sunglasses on because chances are huge that he’s stoned right now. Bigby was just asked how he’s going to celebrate tonight and his gut response, the words that came out first were “oh…wow….”. His way of saying “tons, and tons of weed”.

I do think Roethlisberger had real trouble with Capers’ game plan in the first half. He drew up a really nice plan and it wasn’t until we lost practically our entire secondary that Pitt was able to crack through with that late 1st half TD.

I’m just so proud of this team. We stuck with it. We didn’t fall into conservative mode. We kept going with what worked.

You all better be partying hard right now. I’ve done my part with many beers, sitting on the left side of my couch, etc. Fantastic season and a huge thank you to all who read us. I really enjoy doing this and the main reason I enjoy it is because our readers are so knowledgeable, fun, funny and interesting. Thanks again readers!

ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO I POSTED GB HAD SUPER BOWL TALENT BUT LET IT SLIDE BY NOT ADRESSING THERE LACK OF A RUNNING GAME. I NEED TO APOLOGIZE!!!! A WIN IS A WIN IS A WIN!!!! AWESOME!!!!!! WAY TO GO PACK TT AND MM!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN A PACKER FAN SINCE 1965 AND NEVER STOPPPED BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT EVEN I AM IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRO BOWLERS OUT WOODSON AND SHEILDS HURT AND WE WIN WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO EXCUSES JUST WIN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Honestly.. I’m so happy. I had the guys over for the game and we had a great time.. even if not everyone was cheering for the Pack.. Either way, it was awesome and I’m so happy for Rodgers. He deserved it, a long with Woodson, class acts. And well I think I might drink all night. Thats how happy and excited I am. We did it. You could be a great team (The Pats) and come up short, but to actually finish and win it all (the superbowl) is an accomplishment and something you can’t take for granted.. its surreal. I love it, we deserved it! Great job guys, lets take this all in, celebrate, and work on continuing the decade with possibly a few more under the belt!

–Yes, TT is a genius. So many guys on IR. Grant goes down, Finley goes down… and we still win the SB? Ridiculous. Ridiculously good.

–And Dom Capers needs to be recognized too. That defense carried us pretty much the whole way. Except for the Atlanta game, the Packers offense scored exactly two second-half touchdowns. THAT’s how good the D was. It made it stick.

Just got home from the game. Sat outside with hundreds and hundreds of Packer Nation! Absolutely amazing!! Nice to see ARodge get that monkey off his back!! I also want to give a shout out to the Steelers fans who also showed strong support…..all of them were classy and smart as Doug mentioned and several offered Congrats! Well deserved for a team who hung with it through a tough injury ridden season!

So sweet. As happy as I am for Rodgers, Matthews Raji and Jennings, I’m thrilled that Driver and Woodson got well deserved and long awaited Superbowl rings. This team showed more heart, guts and fortitude then any team I have ever seen.

Still just deliriously happy (albeit very sleep deprived). Have to give this team credit for never giving up. I was freaked when Woodson went out and then Driver. But, like all year, the next man up did what needed to be done. So happy for Woodson and Driver, those are two great guys who really deserve this. It is too bad they couldn’t play the whole game but I would bet it means a lot that their teammates stepped it up to win it for them.

Hopefully next year we can get our offense a little more consistent since it seems to disappear a bit in the second half, but I think losing Driver was a big part of that. But no matter what the Packers are the world champs and the Lombardi Trophy is coming home!

Turnovers were the difference. Green getting a fantastic push and hitting Ben’s arm causing a wounded duck was just a huge play by a guy picked up mid-way through the season. Collin’s turning it into 6 points was amazing also. What a run and when we watch the film 10 years from now it will be that play that I will say had the biggest impact on the game.

Matthews and Pickett’s fumble tackle turned the tide. Bishop’s sure hangs scooping it up can’t be overlooked either. Just a monster play in the game.

On offense: Rodgers accuracy is just the best I have ever seen in a QB. Only perfect throws defeat that defense and he made them all game. How frustrating must Steelers fan’s have been all game. Good coverage. Good pressure on Rodgers and he just throws darts for completions. Clifton was outstanding and a key to the game but Wells might be the MVP on the line. They put him on an island in the middle against a good NT and he held up all game. Starks…the guys just doesn’t take a loss. He turns no gainers into positive plays. Give this offense a legit TE threat and watch out next year.

Agree with everyone above. Just a really fun team to root for. So happy for Woodson, Driver, Rodgers, TT, heck all of ’em. We want to root for a team AND like the players too, this team made it easy to do that. Class acts all around.

The Packer victory is sweet. What’s even sweeter are the calls and tweets I’m getting from friends who either didn’t like Aaron Rodgers or were critical of Ted/Mike. All calling to say sorry, I was right. 😉

Someone asked MM about the fact that Holmgren left not long after winning SB XXXI (and then losing XXXII).
He replied “I would hope this is my last job. I’m a builder and we have built something special. This program was built the right way, has quality people in Aaron Rodgers and all the way through that are going to lead this football team for a long time. So I would definitely hope this is my last job.” http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/115483904.html

Nice to hear. He’s really taken some big steps forward this year as a coach and it would be nice to keep him around.

Andy – Thanks for all the work this year and making this a place where civilized conversation can occur regarding the team. When I look at other blogs or places where people can post, it’s either filled with all haters or those that want to turn it around to soapbox about “insert your political affiliation here”. It’s nice to have this as an outlet for knowledgeable fans who can articulate a thought while still wearing the green & gold blinders. 🙂 Looking forward to next season already. Great work!

Early line (should there be a season) is Packers 7 to 1 to repeat. NE is 8 to 1. Pitt is 10 to 1.

Sorry to be so late to the party here –I am just now getting over the shock. Never in a million uears would I have put GB even IN the SB this year, much oless win it. Amazing job by everyone involved–all season long.

On the NFL network on SB micked up Jennings said after GB’s last drive something to the effect of I love our defense but we put them in this position every game. Correct Greg and lok how they came through. Absolutely awesome season.

Thanks for the site-looking forward to next year–hope GB continues the tradition of repeating the following year when they get to the SB.